Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-12
IN THE BATH ROOM.
A CLEAN OLD CUSTOM HANDED
DOWN FROM ANTIQUITY.

DOWN FROM ANTIQUITY.
The Various Styles of Baths. Their His
tory and Charscteristic>-The Primi
The Mud Bath.
The bath is as old as the hills. II come,
down from the most remote antiquity
I The Egyptians used to hathe iii the Nile
The Hebrews made bathing compulsory
by law. and the Mohammedans and Hin
docs enforce il as a duty of religion.
! Public baths We're among the public insti-
| tutions Of the ancient Egyptians. Greeks
and Romans. IL Pharaoh's lovely
daughter hadn't gone bathing in the Nile
Moses might never have been discovered
in the bullrushes II NauSicaa and her
/ fair companions had not bathed them
/ selves III the waters of the sea the ship.
wrecked Ulysses might never have been
/ rescued So il Will he seen that the bath
/ is hoary, venerable and patriarchal.
But the primitive hath was a simple
process compared with the elaborate hath
Of modern times. IL was merely a
plunge into the limpid wafer of some
flowing stream. Now the bath is a scien-
tific process, presided over by competent
attendants and regulated by the watch
and the thermometer. The bath most
popular with the American people, bar
ring. of course, the domestic tub, is the
Turkish bath. Why il is called Turk
ish' surpasseth all understanding. Ii is
probably, though. because the Turks re-
cline in a most luXuriant bath in perfumed
water. while about the edges of the mar
bic basin grow fragrant flowers and bloom
ing rose trees, filling the apartment with
their ravishiug scent. The Turkish bath
was first introduced into England about
the middle Of the sos by a noblenan,
David lrquhart by name, who had re
ceived the impression in the Orient. This
country adopted the Turkish bath about
twenty years ago.
TAKING A TURKISH BATH.
Have You ever taken a Turkish hath
No Then. in the language Of Edwin
Forrest, You ''have never risen 10 the dig
nifty of being personally clean"
When You 90 Ia a Turkish bath house
you firS: enter the Office, where you regis
ter deposit YOUR valuables and receive a
check for them. Then you pass into the
muctaly. ''Nuctaly' must be the Turk
for cool room. At any rate muctaly is the
cool room. In one of the numerous COM
partmentS of this apartment you disrobs
and invest yourself in a bathing garment,
then you pass into the warm room, the
tepidanum. they call if, where you en-
counter temperature Of l2O to l+0 degS
Fahrenheit Here YOU reCline on a couch
until the perspiratiOn is freely started.
When the skin has become sufficiently
soft and moist-the attendant frequently
passes his hand over the body 10 ascertain
if il has arrived AT the proper state-you
are uShered into the hot room, which is
plain English for the calidanum, as the
apartment j. called, where the temperature
is 40 degs. higher than in the warm room.
In the hot room the attendants lay you
upon a heated marble slab, and the
perspiratiun becomes more and more pro-
fuse, while the attendant thoroughly
mauipulateS the body with a towel. From
this room You pass into still hotter hot
room, where the temperature is 220 to 2iO
degrees. You perspire a few more times
in this room, when you are conducted into
the shampooiug room, where enough tepid
water is sprinkled over You 10 remove the
perspration. Then you are stretched out
upon another marble slab and receive
another manipulation. The wind up con-
siSts in the attendant thoroughly washing
the body with a lather of soap and water,
sprinkling the bather over with a tepid
spray, and the bather taking a plunge in
the swimming bath.
THE RUSSIAN BATH.
The Russian bath is SO called because
the Russians from long ago have indulged
60. ~, L., l,.,l
differs from the Turkish bath in this
essential particular: In a Russian bath
the room Is filled with hot vapor; in the
Turkish bath the room is filled with hot
air.
The Russian bath is attaining popu-
larity with the busy. bustling American
people for the reason that it doesn't take
long. A Russian bath can be taken in
quarter the time that it requires for a
Turkish bath A comparatively new idea !
in baths is the electric bath. This is a
bath prescribed for neuralgia,
and all forms of nervous dis |
orders. The bathers enter bath tub,
around the inside of which are a number
of electric buttons. During the bath
current of electricity is turned into the |
water through these conductors from a
bdlttrl, lidllpuidttu DN ali dtttiludnt- |
The sensation, instead of being unplea- |
SAINT, or producing a shock such as con- |
tact with battery produces, is said TO be |
one Of intense delight.
The mud bath is INDUCED in almost en- |
tirely as a remedy for blood disorders. |
The bather is placed in bath tub and |
covered up TO the chin with a thick coat |
ing of heated mud. As one coating cools |
of fresh warm coating is applied. This |
heated mud is supposed 10 act as poul- |
tice and draw out the impurities of the |
system. There is one popularity about |
the Turkish BATH that is not generally |
known. and that is its influence TO pre- |
serve the equilibrium of the bather's |
weight If the bather is above his normal |
weight that is, above a weight suitable TO |
his build and temperament, the Turkish !
bath will reduce him. II he is below his |
normal weight it will increase it.-Cin- |
cinnati Enquirer.